Merry Christmas Everyone!

Sleeper Casting

I recently read Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Sleeper for the first time, and man did I love it. It's a beautifully dark noir crime story with fabulous characters that happen to have superhero-like abilities. I'm not big on traditional superhero stuff, so this was right up my alley. As I'm reading it, of course I'm thinking, 'Man, this would be a GREAT movie,' and low and behold, it's in preproduction with Tom Cruise as the lead, to which I say UGH...

So anywho, this is my take on what would be an awesome Sleeper cast.

Nathan Fillion as Holden Carver

I know that at this point it's hard to disassociate Nathan Fillion with the Whedon-verse, but dammit, let's try and maybe he can get some more awesome roles. I know Holden is supposed to be this big tough military trained operative, but he's also got a whole heck of a lot going on behind the scenes and the actor who plays him really needs to be able to master both of those aspects. I think if Fillion bulked up and got all lean looking (like he was in Saving Private Ryan) he'd have the perfect combination of toughness, sassiness, and genuineness.

Lake Bell as Miss Misery

The only thing I really know this chick from is What Happens in Vegas (which was less of a train wreck than I had anticipated) and she was pretty funny in it. I have a feeling that for Miss Misery, Hollywood's going to want a very bombshell-looking actress (like Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie), but I think Lake Bell has this great look that really works for the character. She's not super girly looking, and she has really strong features, and I always got the feeling that Misery's sexiness really came from her strength and persona, so steering towards a more unconventional look could make this character really pop on screen (you know the opposite of what Malin Ackerman did for Watchmen).













Kevin Durand as Genocide Jones

Okay, so I love me some Kevin Durand. He's always been in random stuff, but ever since his role on Lost I'm totally smitten. Genocide needs to be this big, tough, macho bad-ass, but he's totally lovable. I think as opposed to someone like Ray Stevenson (new Punisher) or Vinnie Jones, Durand has this sort of sweetness to his tough guy look, and that would make you really care for the character.














Ian Somerhalder as TAO

Yeah, it's another boy from Lost. So shoot me. But I've been a big fan of Ian since Rules of Attraction, and that character is why I think he would be fantastic as TAO. He needs to be charming, trustworthy, evil and completely manipulative all at the same time, as well as being insanely smart and bad ass. He needs to be young but have the wisdom and air of someone much older, and since Somerhalder is currently being all vampire-y, I'm sure he's had some practice at that.












Bruce Greenwood as John Lynch

So the only thing I knew this guy from was Star Trek (then on his IMDB page I learned he was also the president in National Treasure 2, which I kinda really liked) but there's something about him that totally seems like Lynch to me. He needs to have been able to gain Holden's trust while still be kinda scary and dark, which he's got this nice little face that I'm sure combined with the crazy ass scar would play great to both of those characteristics.















Paul Dano as XXX-Ray

I'm not entirely sure how old XXX-Ray is supposed to be, so this casting might be too young, but oh well. However I do know that Ray is a little dude with a special talent, and is totally nerve-wracked and anxious. Dano was a great dork in Girl Next Door and he did an amazing job in Little Miss Sunshine (I haven't seen There Will Be Blood yet. I know, I'm ashamed). But anywho, he seems to have the acting chops to go to all the dark places Ray needs to go. And he's sweet and innocent looking, which'll just make it all the more heartbreaking.












Christina Hendricks as Veronica St. James

Yeah, she was in Firefly as well, I don't care, it proves that she's already got chemistry with Nathan Fillion, which is really necessary since her role isn't ginormous. But Veronica really needs to be the opposite of Miss Misery--beautiful, soft, law-abiding, but still very strong, just in a different way. And it was my impression that she was probably a little older and more mature than Misery as well. And not to spoil anything, but Hendricks and Bell would be a lovely combination of ladies for that final scene, right?












Eric Christian Olsen as Grifter

Okay, so I'm pretty sure he's too young to be Grifter, but scruff him up and I think it will be fine. For Grifter, I know the actor is going to need to be tough and cool, but I think that he needs to be kinda funny and light at heart in order to really feel for Grifter. And I must say, I love Olsen. He's so precious. Most everything I've seen him in is really funny and goofy, but his resume seems to show potential for serious acting. I like it.














Bryan Cranston as Peter Grimm

Okay, I had a really hard time with this one, which is really why I saved it for last cause I'm pretty damn proud of it. I went through like, 6 other people before he popped in my head, and I was like, yes! He was wonderful on Malcolm in the Middle and though I've only seen the first few episodes of Breaking Bad (please don't spoil anything!), I know he totally deserves those Emmys. I can totally see him scaring the shit out of everyone but still having a flair about him that makes him lovable in a Heath-Ledger-Joker kind of way. It would be glorious.

So yeah. That's my cast. The real life cast will probably be absolutely nothing like this.

My Favorite Movies of the 00's

I didn't even really think about 2009 being the end of a decade until all these 'best of' lists started floating around, and I'm still a little weirded out that the past 10 years are going to be viewed as one cohesive unit. It really doesn't feel like it should. Anywho, I was reading many of those best of movie lists and I got to thinking about all my favorite movies. I tried to make a nice little concise list, but that didn't happen. Also, I watch a lot of movies but not near as many as I'd like to, so this list is probably wildly incomplete/inaccurate. So anyways, here are my favorite 40 films from the past decade (and please note I said favorite, not best)....

28 Days Later (2002)

Across the Universe (2007)

Almost Famous (2000)

The Brothers Bloom (2008)

Things I Want That Do Not Exist Yet

So I love kid's music, not all of it, but the really good stuff (a lot of it is pretty grating on the ears). I've worked in three different toy stores as well as having been a camp counselor on several occasions so I've probably listened to way more children's music than most people my age. My favorite stuff though, comes from regular grown up musicians like Barenaked Ladies and They Might Be Giants, as well as musical off-the-wall cartoon stuff like Animaniacs. So here are a few people who I would love to have record a kid's album
Eddie Izzard

I've been a huge Eddie Izzard fan since I saw his comedy special Dressed to Kill on HBO back in high school. My friends and I quoted that show for years, and still do on occasion. He has a great stage presence and his humor is very smart, which is always refreshing. And after having seen his performance of 'Benefit of Mr. Kite' in Across the Universe, I realized he totally has the potential to do more musical stuff. I think an Izzard album for kids would be fun, energetic, educational and total wacky. It would be fabulous.
Ellen Degeneres

I'm really happy that Ellen has become as successful as she has, mainly because I really enjoy her comedy (she's hilarious without having to be dirty or provocative) and I love the fact that an openly gay lady has a wildly popular daytime talk show. So yeah, I think she's great. I'm not so sure about her singing abilities, but she performed 'Shoop' by Salt n'Peppa, and that was pretty great. Plus, kids know her from Finding Nemo, so they'd already be on board.
Richard Cheese

I didn't know anything about this guy until I saw Zach Synder's remake of Dawn of the Dead which contained that fabulous cover of 'Down with the Sickness.' I then had to go out and download every song I could find by Richard Cheese and I was totally hooked. He has the ability to take songs I either don't like or find boring and make them super fun. I have a feeling that if challenged to do the same thing to traditional children's music, the results would be phenomenal.
Weezer

I'm not a huge Weezer fan or anything, but I really like the singles they put out and they seem to be a fun type of group. One of the reasons I really like the albums from Barenaked Ladies and They Might Be Giants is they're not children's artists. It doesn't feel like they're pandering or playing simplified music; they do what they're best at, and just slightly change the sound and use fun, kid-friendly lyrics. I think Weezer would do the same thing, and it would be something that kids would love, and parents wouldn't want to rip their ears off. And really all kid's music should be that way.

So if any of you have any connections, drop some hints. Maybe we can get more fun, educational, zany tunes out there.